Saddam Hussein Sentenced to Death
Nothing to do with Armenia, apart from relatively close proximity and an Armenian minority, but the BBC reports that the deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein has been found guilty of crimes against humanity and sentenced to death. Hussein will apparently be hung.
The former Iraqi president was convicted by a Baghdad court for his role in the killing of 148 people in the mainly Shia town of Dujail in 1982.
His half brother Barzan al-Tikriti was also sentenced to death, as was Iraq’s former chief judge Awad Hamed al-Bandar
Former Vice-President Taha Yassin Ramadan got life in jail and three others received 15 year prison terms.
Another co-defendant, Baath party official Mohammed Azawi Ali, was acquitted.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki hailed the conviction in a televised address, saying that the sentence was “not a sentence on one man, but a sentence against all the dark period of his rule”.
The BBC says that during announcement of the sentence, Hussein refused to stand for the judgment and had to be forced out of his seat. Defiant until the end, Hussein is reported to have screamed “God is Greatest, Long live Iraq! Long live the Iraqi people! Down with the traitors!”
The former leader looked shocked and furious as the sentence was passed, and continued to shout, denouncing the court, the judge and the US-led occupation force in Iraq.
But the BBC’s world affairs editor John Simpson said that after his tirade, which was clearly deliberate, as he was led away from the courtroom, Saddam Hussein seemed to have a small smile of triumph on his face.
“It was as if he was thinking ‘I’ve come here and done what I intended to do’,” our correspondent said.
News of some concern is that the verdict was followed by violence, especially in Tikrit and some parts of Baghdad. One can only hope that Saddam Hussein’s execution won’t turn him into a martyr, but I suppose for die-hard loyalists to the Baathist regime it will. MSNBC already carries an AP report that a message from the dictator has already been communicated by his lawyer.
Saddam Hussein urged Iraqis on Sunday to reject the sectarian violence ripping his country apart and to “not take revenge” on U.S. invaders, his chief lawyer said after the ousted leader was sentenced to death.
“The message from President Saddam to his people came during a meeting in Baghdad this morning, just before the so-called Iraqi court issued its verdict in his trial,” Khalil al-Dulaimi told The Associated Press in a telephone interview from Baghdad.
“His message to the Iraqi people was ‘pardon and do not take revenge on the invading nations and their people’,” al-Dulaimi said, quoting Saddam.
“The president also asked his countrymen to ‘unify in the face of sectarian strife’,” the lawyer added.
[…]
“The president said that ‘Saddam Hussein won’t be defeated. It’s the men of Persia and those of the United States who will be’,” al-Dulaimi said. “He said the people will remain strong and steadfast.”
Well, I won’t shed any tears over Saddam Hussein’s sentence and it’s implementation, but I have to admit that I think a death sentence in what was a “show trial” shouldn’t be greeted with such enthusiasm by the West. My own Government, for example, is already applauding the sentence despite capital punishment being abolished since 1965.
The UK government has welcomed the conviction of the former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein for crimes against humanity by a Baghdad court.
Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett, said all the defendants were being held to account for their crimes.
Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague said the verdict should be “respected”.
[…]
Mrs Beckett said: “I welcome that Saddam Hussein and the other defendants have faced justice and have been held to account for their crimes.
“Appalling crimes were committed by Saddam Hussein’s regime. It is right that those accused of such crimes against the Iraqi people should face Iraqi justice.
“Today’s verdict and sentences by the Iraqi Higher Tribunal come at the end of a trial during which evidence has been offered and challenged in the full glare of media scrutiny.”
Home Secretary John Reid said the UK should respect the Iraqis’ decision.
Mr Reid said: “It [the verdict] was an achievement for Iraq and an ultimate expression of their own sovereignty.”
He added that they are “masters of their own destinies”.
[…]
Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague said: “We congratulate the Iraqi courts on reaching a verdict in such difficult circumstances, and the bravery shown by judges and witnesses in the face of severe violence and intimidation.
“It is important that Saddam Hussein faces justice for his crimes, for the sake of both his many victims and of the future of Iraq and its people.
“The verdict and sentencing of Saddam are a matter for Iraqi law and the Iraqi people, but they deserve the support of the international community in ensuring that the decisions reached by the court are respected.”
He would not be drawn on whether he agreed with the death penalty decision.
Thankfully, not everyone in British politics is towing what can perhaps be cynically called a pro-American line. The BBC also reports that there are those who are openly questioning whether the sentence was wise given the tinder box that is Iraq.
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell warned that executing the former leader could make him a martyr and he should be imprisoned for life.
[…]
Scottish National Party (SNP) leader Alex Salmond - a longstanding critic of the government’s military campaign - said it was a “very understandable verdict given the terms of the court”.
“I think very probably, certainly in my judgment, it would be a bad idea to execute Saddam Hussein because dead martyrs are more important than live criminals,” he told the Sunday AM programme.
Well, I suppose it doesn’t matter much. Iraq is anyway going to be ripped apart by ethnic, tribal and religious violence for the foreseeable future anyway. Interestingly, to bring it back to Armenia, there are many Yezidis here who are fully behind Bush’s War On Terror for one reason and one reason only. Basically, they appreciate the continued existence of Iraqi Kurdistan.
AP reports on divided world opinion on whether Hussein should have been sentenced to death.
Comment by Onnik — November 6, 2006 @ 11:43 am
The Australian PM is a tool, anything he says comes out sounding sketchy, because he has his head so far up Bush’s arse.
Any half-brained pleb can tell you that executing someone is an act vengeance, not justice. Besides killing Hussein, what is to be done with his commanders? The ones that carried out his plans?
I bet any money they will just be recruited into police, army and government positions. Exactly like the Americans bargained with NAZIs for their technology. Different names, same friendly faces.
Will any of the families that suffered under Hussein be taken care of, or compensated by the government? I don’t think so, in-fact over 200,000 families have been adversly affected because of the present campaign.
It just goes to show that Iraqis, Americans and the Commonwealth haven’t the slightest idea of democracy, liberty or justice. They cause more problems than they resolve.
Comment by Esoteric — November 6, 2006 @ 5:16 pm